He hadn’t let go of her hand, she realized. Gently slipping her fingers free of his, Patti stepped back. Standing there in her filthy tank top and shorts, grease and oil smudging her exposed skin, while he stood before her looking completely edible in a pair of fitted black slacks and a white button down dress shirt, she couldn’t help feeling self-conscious.
“I’m sorry I’m not ready. I got distracted.” Patti jerked her thumb over her shoulder at the car.
Jon followed with his eyes and nodded. “That’s understandable. Having something that beautiful at your disposal is bound to cause some distraction.”
When Patti looked up at him, she found his intense eyes focused on her and she got the distinct impression that he wasn’t referring to the car.
“I can be ready in fifteen minutes, if you still want to go out,” she stammered.
A slow, wolfish smile spread across Jon’s face as he took her in again. “If you look this good dirty...” He cleared his throat and shook his head. “Yeah, I still want to go out, but you’d better make it ten because anything beyond that and I can’t promise I’ll still be a gentleman.”
7
Jon struggled to keep his mind from wandering to sex as he sat and listened to the sound of the shower running down the hall.
All day long, thoughts of her kept him distracted, and now that he was standing in her house, he was at a loss for what to do with her. To her. Himself. His mind was a jumbled mess of confusion.
He hadn’t been serious with a woman for a long time. He wasn’t entirely sure he ever wanted to be again. But this woman was something different from what he was used to. She wasn’t glamorous in any way, but her beauty seemed to come naturally, as if she weren’t even trying.
He smiled, recalling the moment he first got lost in her eyes. It was right after the accident when he’d gone to see if she were okay. He’d never looked into eyes as blue as hers. They were rich and vibrant and full of life, like the ocean on a clear summer day. He’d met her two nights earlier, of course, but it wasn’t until the accident that he became mesmerized.
The water shut off and as Jon yanked his thoughts out of the gutter, it occurred to him that this might be the woman who changed everything. He wasn’t entirely sure he was on board with that realization, but he wasn’t willing to turn his back on the possibility just yet, either.
The muffled sound of a blow dryer came next and Jon settled into the recliner, knowing for damn certain that he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. He had a sister, so he knew without question that the ten-minute stipulation he’d placed on her would be more like thirty…if he were lucky.
To his surprise, Patricia only kept him waiting an additional ten.
“Sorry, sorry,” she said as she stumbled into the living room. She had on one very high, black heel, while hopping around on it trying to pull on the other. “I know I took longer than I said I would, but beauty takes time.” Finally managing to loop her shoe over her heel, she stood up tall and presented him with a dazzling smile. “Ready?”
Jon stared. He couldn’t take his eyes off her even if he wanted to. Dressed in a token little black dress that left her shoulders bare and cupped her breasts like loving hands, and ended at mid-thigh, exposing her lean, toned legs, he was sure he had died and gone to heaven.
Noticing the look on his face, Patti’s steps faltered. “Everything okay?” She frowned down at herself, smoothing her hands over the formfitting dress. “I just realized that I didn’t bother to ask where we were going tonight. Should I change into something else?”
Realizing what an ass he was making of himself, Jon shook his head and stood. With his eyes glued to hers, he crossed the room to stand in front of her. “You look incredible. Don’t change a thing.” Unable to resist the allure of her curvaceous body, he reached out his hand and let his fingers skim lightly across the slinky material clinging to her taut stomach like a second skin. He felt the muscles tighten beneath his touch, and took it as his cue to get even closer.
“Should we be going?” he asked, gliding his palm down her arm and enfolding her hand in his.
She smiled shyly, dropping her gaze. That single moment of vulnerability set in stone Jon’s determination to get to know her beyond the purely physical. She wasn’t just the hard ass, tough as nails woman he’d met before. She had softness to buffer her rough edges, and he found that quality beyond sexy. “Sure, let me just grab my purse.”
After she locked up, Jon led her to his truck.
“I see you got a new car.”
“It’s a truck, actually,” he said with a teasing smile.
Patricia smacked him in the side playfully with the back of her hand, surprising him. “I can see it’s a truck.” She smirked. “I just figured you for the luxury sedan type.”
“I’m whatever fancies me at the moment type,” Jon told her honestly. Hitting the automatic locks, he opened the door for her and took the opportunity to touch her again. Slipping his hands around her waist, he hoisted her up into the cab, then closed the door and ran around to the driver’s side.
Excitement coursed through him, making Jon feel eager and energetic. It reminded him of when he was a teenager going out on his very first date. All that nervous anticipation and exuberance filled him to the point of bursting. It was insane, but it made him feel rejuvenated. Almost hopeful, even.
Jon climbed in and settled himself behind the wheel. “I hope you brought your appetite,” he said as he started the engine.
“I think you lost something,” Patricia said. She held up her hand.
Jon glanced over at her. Seeing that her arm was raised in the air between them, he noticed the glittering piece of jewelry dangling from her fingertips. Shit. Flashes of the woman he’d picked up at the club last night played in his mind’s eye. She was smoking hot in the latex micro mini and offered herself up like a sacrificial lamb. They’d had a few drinks and shared a few dances, and when she’d taken his hand and guided it under her skirt, her husky confession whispering in his ear, to show him she’d forgotten her panties, he’d all but dragged her back to his car. They hadn’t made it out of the parking lot.
It was easy to forget for a moment his desire for this woman sitting before him when he was drunk and horny, but now that he was right in front of her, with her staring expectantly back at him, he felt like a total sleaze. All he could see was her blue eyes watching him, waiting for an explanation, mixed with intermittent flashes of the woman he’d fucked right there in the seat she was sitting in.
Fuck.
With practiced ease, Jon took the earring from her, inspected it briefly, and shrugged. “Huh, never seen it before. Must be my sister’s.” He smiled with a confidence he didn’t feel and leaned across her legs to open the glove compartment and toss it inside. “So, how does seafood sound?”
***
She didn’t know if she bought the sister excuse, but it was their first date and they weren’t exactly an item. It left Patti feeling torn. The string of bad relationships and equally bad boyfriends had made her wary of men and their tactics. Never again did she want to be reduced to just another notch in some man’s bedpost. But, as she looked into Jon’s eyes, all she saw was sincerity and kindness, so she decided to play it by ear. If things between them went no further than tonight, she’d be okay with it, and if it progressed into something more, than she would see it through to wherever it ended up.
Setting her concerns aside, Patti vowed to enjoy the evening ahead. “Seafood sounds wonderful,” she told Jon. He slanted a dizzying smile at her and eased into traffic.
He took her to a nice steak house with an African Savannah theme. The hostess seated them in a corner booth made to resemble a train caboose with prop luggage stored on a shelf overhead. It was a very casual yet elegant environment.
The menu itself was large and consisted of just about every type of meat available to man. Patti had a hard time choosing what to eat, but eventually settled on a light meal of pasta and s
hrimp with a fruity cocktail laced in rum to wash it down. She hadn’t been treated to a meal this nice in some time, which only made her realize the type of men she had subjected herself to before.
She really needed to up her qualifications.
Good thing Jon seemed to fit the bill.
“I’ve never been here before,” Patti confessed. She sipped her drink and cast her eyes around the room. Rattan paddles that swayed back and forth, gently stirring the air, decorated the ceiling. There were amber-colored sconces mounted on the walls and colorful modern artwork sprinkled in between. At the rear of the room, she could watch the chefs put together the food, but she found the view of the man across the table from her far more appealing.
Selecting a coconut crusted shrimp skewer from his plate, Jon dipped it in a small bowl of sweet orange sauce and raised his eyebrow to her as he brought it to his lips. “It’s one of my favorite places to come,” he said, “but tonight the company is far more interesting and infinitely more attractive.”
Taking a moment to mull over his words, Patti took her time twisting the pasta around her fork. “Are you saying you bring your dates here often?”
“I guess that depends on what you consider a date,” he said cryptically.
Stuffing a huge mound of noodles into her mouth, Patti used her food as an excuse not to answer. Frankly, it concerned her that she might have read him wrong. Maybe her first impression of him wasn’t as accurate as she’d assumed.
“Oh boy,” Jon laughed, shaking his head as he went in for another skewer. “I know that look.” Patti lifted a questioning brow. “My mother and sister always have that look when my dad or I say something to piss them off,” he explained. “Maybe I should clarify.”
He didn’t rush to clarify anything, much to Patti’s consternation, but she waited, certain he would present her with some lame excuse that would hold about as much water as a bucket full of holes. She ate slowly, watching Jon as he tucked into his dinner with casual indifference.
“I only come here for business,” he began. “Sometimes I meet with new clients, or with some of the members on the board to discuss finances. It’s never for leisure.” His eyes flicked up to meet hers. “Until tonight. This is the first time I’ve enjoyed a meal with someone who wasn’t sporting a pot belly and a penis between their legs.”
Patti’s quick intake of breath caused her to choke on a partially chewed noodle. Doubling over, she coughed into her napkin so hard her eyes began to tear up.
“Are you okay?” Jon asked, suddenly standing by her side. He pounded on her back, but his efforts only succeeded in making her feel as though her spine were about to snap in two.
“I’m fine,” she croaked, coughing a couple more times. Picking up her glass of water, she gulped half of it before she felt recovered enough to speak clearly.
Jon took his seat again, eying her cautiously.
“Just to be clear. Did you just tell me you’ve never been on a date with a woman before?” She found that notion impossible to believe. Jon was gorgeous. With his dark hair, blue eyes, and strong build, he was every woman’s Adonis. Just walking into the place she’d caught several women, most already seated with their own man, sneaking covert glances at him.
Jon chuckled. The deep sound of it made tendrils of warmth curl in Patti’s belly and settle between her legs. “Not at all. I’m saying that I don’t date often. I’m very selective,” he said, staring at her now.
Patti shifted under his scrutiny. Somehow, he managed to make her feel shy and bold with a single look. On one hand, she wanted to hide her face with her hands, and on the other, she wanted to climb over the table and suck on his lips.
Instead, Patti chose to direct the topic toward something a little safer. “So you said you normally do business here. What kind of work do you do, Jon?”
Dropping his fork on the plate, Jon picked up his glass of dark beer and sat back in his chair. “What do I do?” he pondered, and took a drink. “I own my own business, so I guess you could say that I’m an entrepreneur.”
“Impressive,” Patti praised him. “And what kind of business do you own?”
“A publishing company,” he said. “Ever heard of Bookish Temptations?”
Had she ever! Her friend, Piper, and Piper’s husband, Tate, both worked for the company and if she wasn’t mistaken, the new girl in their entourage, Poppy, also worked there. Didn’t she recall something about Poppy’s boyfriend working there too? Jesus, was this man trying to take over all of Chicago, beginning with her group of friends? Sometimes the world was just too small for her taste. “I think I might’ve heard of it before,” she said flippantly.
A knowing smirk tugged at the corners of his full lips. “Maybe in passing. It’s a growing business and overall pretty successful. What do you do, Patricia?” he asked, turning the tables on her.
Patti fidgeted. It was embarrassing to know she was fired from her job, worse still to have to tell her date that she was fired. She had to let the cat out of the bag sometime. She figured now was as good a time as any. At least she’d get some practice before spilling the news to her mother, who was bound to flip out. She was not looking forward to that conversation one bit.
Sucking in a deep breath, Patti let the words spill out before she could consider burying them in her alcoholic slushy. “I’m unemployed at the moment.” She looked at him then, studying his face for signs of acceptance, or maybe disgust. All she found was understanding.
“Layoff?”
“More like selfish business tactics,” she corrected him. It was a bitter pill to swallow, knowing she’d been cut loose in favor of a bigger profit margin.
“I’m sorry to hear that. What did you do?”
As Patti explained the details of her former job, she couldn’t help feeling bolstered by his interest and understanding. Not many men she’d dated bothered to learn about who she was, and what she was all about, but Jon was listening to her, and that was something so new to her. She was more tempted than ever to lay him out on the floor and strip him naked right there in the middle of the restaurant to show her gratitude.
“It’s funny,” Jon said as he filled out the receipt and signed off on it. “It just so happens that I’m in the market for a new accountant.”
Patti shook her head and polished off the last of her drink. She stood, slipping her hand into his outstretched one as though it were habit. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
“What? You thought I was offering you the job?” Jon asked with feigned shock. “What kind of business person do you think I am, Patricia?”
She grinned at his playfulness. “I don’t know you well enough to speak on your business habits, but I think I should tell you now, I don’t mix business with pleasure.”
Jon pushed open the first set of doors and stopped in the enclosed space that separated the outside from in. He slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. “Am I to take that as an invitation to give you pleasure?”
Patti’s chest heaved with her shortened breaths. She became increasingly aware of how close they were, of the heat emanating from everywhere their bodies touched. “You can give me anything you want,” she whispered.
His eyes flared with desire. Cupping her face in his hand, Jon tilted her head back and leaned down. Patti’s stomach tumbled and need thrummed through her veins with white-hot intensity.
Before their lips could meet, a roll of thunder crashed outside and a bolt of lightning split the night sky. Patti nearly leaped out of her skin.
“Looks like rain,” Jon chuckled at the exact moment the skies opened up to unleash a torrential downpour. Patti, still a little shaky from her unexpected shock from the heavens, shuddered. “Easy, baby, it’s just a little thunderstorm.”
Patti released a stilted laugh, her cheeks heating in humiliation. “I’m not afraid of thunderstorms. That was just a little unexpected is all.”
Looking out across the rain-soaked parking lot, Jon con
sidered what to do next. A wicked smile crossed his face. “Wanna make a run for it?”
Patti peered through the glass doors. “I don’t mind getting wet,” she said, biting her lip when he tugged her tighter to his body to let her know the deliberate double entendre hadn’t escaped him. “But I don’t know how well I’ll fare running in this weather in these heels.” She pointed to her shoes, which bore no need for explanation. It would be obvious even to a blind man that she would break an ankle if she attempted anything faster than a leisurely stroll.
“You’re probably right,” Jon conceded. “I guess I could just bring the car around…” he trailed off, thinking. “Or…”
Patti squealed in surprise when Jon bent low, grabbing her around the knees, and hefting her over his shoulder, and the next thing she knew, she was bobbing up and down as he burst through the doors and raced across the parking lot.
“What are you doing?” she shrieked, laughing all the while. Cold rain splattered across her back, soaking her from head to toe. With nothing to hold on to, Patti gripped Jon’s waist in tight fists and held on for dear life as he bound toward the truck.
Once they reached it, Jon let her down with deliberate ease. Her front rubbed every inch of his, pulling her dress higher up her thighs than was intended. Jon didn’t bother to unlock the doors, and Patti didn’t bother to complain. Standing there, with rain sheeting down around them, they stared into one another’s eyes.
“You’re soaked,” Jon told her, his voice coming out deep and husky and barely audible over the loud hiss of rain.
“So are you,” Patti said, looking up into his eyes and feeling absolutely lost in them. In that moment he could ask her anything and she knew she wouldn’t say no.
He took a step closer, backing her into the side of the truck. He reached up, one hand finding her waist while the other clasped the back of her neck, his fingers tangling in the hair at its base. He didn’t need words to express what he wanted. His eyes said every unspoken word. He wanted her.